Reflect,+Evaluate,+Critique

media type="custom" key="4276971"media type="custom" key="4276969" ** Independent Questions:

1. Managing Self -** This competency is associated with self-motivation, a “can-do” attitude, and with students seeing themselves as capable learners. It is integral to self-assessment. Students who manage themselves are enterprising, resourceful, reliable, and resilient. They establish personal goals, make plans, manage projects, and set high standards. They have strategies for meeting challenges. They know when to lead, when to follow, and when and how to act independently.


 * 1. Do you think you managed yourself and your time well in order to complete the tasks you needed to do for your group?** **Josephine:** I think that our time was managed reasonably well, though we could have started on the presentation stage a little bit earlier, as we rushed slightly to finish it. It could also have been presented better, as the text became slightly messier as it went through the booklet. Since we did complete, I feel satisfied with the work we did otherwise.
 * Stephanie: ** I think we managed our time well. We split up the work load and we finished the answering the supporting questions two weeks before the due date. Although we could have started presentation earlier. I was glad how we were able to find information not only from the internet but also from books.

**Josephine:** Most things were easier as a group, though as we did not live in the same area it was difficult to communicate exactly how we wanted our presentation to be when we were at home.
 * 2. What was the biggest challenge for managing yourself within a group? **
 * Stephanie:** The biggest challenge for within a group was communicating to each other as we didn't live near each other and we each had our afterschool activities which sometimes were directly after each other's activity.

**Josephine:** We did the easiest thing possible, and that was to agree over it at school or whenever we saw each other. If there were mistakes we did our best to fix it, or altered it so it to that mistake. **Stephanie:** We overcomed this challenge by talking to each other at school and gave each other a brief timetable. We also phoned each other whenever possible.
 * 3. How did you overcome this challenge? **

** 4. Describe an instance where you took the lead in your group and why. If you were the group leader, what did you do particularly well when leading? ** **Josephine:** Our group wasn't really a leader-follower type thing, it was more just a group inquiry, though Stephanie would have been the leader if I were to pick which one it was. She took over most of the wikispace work though I took over the Presentation. **Josephine:** I think that neither of us were really that independent. I would go with a one or two since we shared the tasks and helped each other out. Although, as I mentioned before, Stephanie took most of the jobs in the wikispace area while I took the Presentation. It all worked out, so I'm sure that she's as happy as I am. **Stephanie:** I think on a scale of 1-5, I would be on a '2'. This is becuase I gathered the information but needed help to word it. This is when Josephine helped. I would reword the sentence, then say it out loud and then Josephine would edit/type it up on our Investigate page. **2. Relating to Others -** Relating to others is about interacting effectively with a diverse range of people in a variety of contexts. This competency includes the ability to listen actively, recognise different points of view, negotiate, and share ideas. Students who relate well to others are open to new learning and able to take different roles in different situations. They are aware of how their words and actions affect others. They know when it is appropriate to compete and when it is appropriate to co-operate. By working effectively together, they can come up with new approaches, ideas, and ways of thinking.
 * Stephanie: ** We didn't have a group leader because we thought it wouldn't be a good idea for someone to be leading the other person. So we both just did what we needed to do. We gave an idea or a time for when the particular thing needed to be finished and then we supported each other. We urged each other on and helped each other out.
 * 5. On a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being the best), how independent were you in completing your tasks? **

**Josephine:** We can both contribute dofferent ideas, so instead of going by myself and trying to think up of everything myself, we both thought about it together and came up with the best possible solution to an answer or the look of the title page. It's good to be independent, but working as a group offers other skills, like to listen carefully and cooperate. ** 2. What the most difficult thing about working as a group? ** **Josephine:** Sometimes, when work was a little bit too much for the one of us, we wanted to change it but the other didn't. It makes us a little bit grumpy and annoyed. **Stephanie:** For the infographic and the title on the front page we had to compromise because we needed to decide on the size and font for the title. For the title we also needed to decide what colour to colour it in. For the infographic, we also had to decide on the size and what colour to colour it in. We also needed to compromise on how to draw the infographic. For example, I thought that we should have the plastic bag smaller, but Josephine said it should be bigger otherwise people wouldn't be able to tell what it was. So we decided to make the plastic bag a bit bigger. **Josephine:** We worked well together by communicating frequently and contributing ideas. We also made sure that we divided the work so it suited our abilities and preferences most of the time. If you don't like the work, chances are you won't do so well at it.
 * 1. What was the best thing about working as a group?**
 * Stephanie:** The best thing thing about working as a group is that we can help each other out and split up the work load according to our interests and ability.
 * Josephine:** As a group, you have to decide on things together. So if there's an idea that only one of us likes, then we have to discard it, often making that person upset. i one of us does change or add something without the thought of the other person, it makes the project collapse because of one likeing it and the other doesn't.
 * Stephanie:** The most difficult thing about working as a group is that when you have your own idea you need to ask you buddy before you want to decide to do it.
 * 3. Was there a time when you had to compromise on something you wanted to do? Explain...**
 * 4. Explain how your group co-operated.**
 * Stephanie:** Our group co-operated by splitting up the work load. We gave each other ideas and feedback.

**Josephine:**  We didn't really have a time where one person didn't cooperate with the rest of the group. (Since there are only two of us anyway.) But if there were a time, it would slow down the work process and make the group grumpy and probably lower the quality of the work. ** Group Questions:
 * 5. Explain an instance where someone in your group did not co-operate. How did this impact on the rest of the group? **
 * Stephanie: ** An instance when someone in the group didn't co-operate it impacted on the rest of the group by making the progress a bit slower.

3. Knowledge and Understanding about Social Sciences**

We decided to research plastic, its making and disposal, and how it is impacting on the environment.
 * 1. What is the issue related to sustainability that your group chose to inquire about?**

People are disposing of plastic incorrectly, without consideration for the environment. This creates many wildlife animals to become endangered. We wanted to see how we could do our bit to reduce pollution and inform other people of this issue.
 * 2. What is the cause of your issue? (the reason why it is in fact an issue)**

Some animals mistake plastic as food. This can prove fatal for the animal, and maybe the animals later on in the food chain, too. Smaller animals may also mistake the plastic bags as somewhere to live. Then, as they struggle to find the exit, they start to lose the oxygen, since plastic can be both air and water tight.
 * 3. What effect has your issue had on our environment?**

Some people are thoughtlessly disposing of plastics and of other rubbish too, though some do it without know what issues it might have on the environment. This makes the world more and more polluted.
 * 4. What are some ways people are using resources that contributes to the issue your group chose?**

The first and probably easiest thing to do is not to litter, and if there are any pieces of rubbish lying around, to pick it up and put it into the nearest bin there is. It's a simple act, though many people refuse to see any good in doing that. If you want to get into it a bit more, start recycling more than what you normally recycle, reuse plastic bags instead of throwing it instantly into the landfill an use environmentally friendly bags that aren't made of plastic.
 * 5. What are some choices people can make that will address your issue?**

Students who are competent thinkers and problem-solvers actively seek, use, and create knowledge. They reflect on their own learning, draw on personal knowledge and intuitions, ask questions, and challenge the basis of assumptions and perceptions.
 * 4. Thinking Explanation -** Thinking is about using creative, critical, and metacognitive processes to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas. These processes can be applied to purposes such as developing understanding, making decisions, shaping actions, or constructing knowledge. Intellectual curiosity is at the heart of this competency.

We had to use creative thinking in order to make our presentation look good and easy to read, yet still get the information across. Critical thinking was used mainly in the Investigate area, where we had to think carefully on if the information we found was correct. Metacognition was used in the thinking hats, making sure we put correct information under the correct hat.
 * 1. Explain how your group used the following types of thinking to make sense of information, experiences, and ideas you may have encountered throughout your inquiry process:**
 * **creative thinking;**
 * **critical thinking;**
 * **metacognition (thinking about what sort of thinking you needed to use!);**

**2.** **Explain how the types of questions helped you to gain the information needed to develop strong knowledge about your issue?** The six supporting questions were developed to answer the three key questions which were developed to answer the big question. The three starters for the questions were how, why and what. These three starters make the question open-ended which will be easier to answer the questions with depth.

We need to find out the easiest way to get the message across and some other ways we can reduce the amount of pollution that we're creating. That would be the first step towards a healthier and better environment. Our amount of rubbish isn't as low as some people would like it to be--in fact, Singapore's amount of rubbish in their is much lower, although their temperature is a bit too high for some of our preferences.
 * 3. What other information do you think you needed to find out?**

Students who are competent users of language, symbols, and texts can interpret and use words, number, images, movement, metaphor and technologies in a range of contexts. They recognise how choices of language, symbol, or text affect people's understanding and the ways in which they respond to communications They confidently use ICT (including, where appropriate, assistive technologies) to access and provide information and to communicate with others.
 * 5. Using Language, Symbols and Texts -** Using language, symbols, and texts is about working with and making meanings of the codes in which knowledge is expressed. Languages and symbols are systems for representing and communicating information, experiences, and ideas. People use languages and symbols to produce texts of all kinds: written, oral/aural, and visual; informative and imaginative; informal and formal; mathematical, scientific, and technological.

Although we didn't use videos, images and symbols to help us present to help the class gain new things things about our issue we used an inforgraphic for our A3 title page. The infographic we created can be counted as a image. The infographic is an earth held in a plastic bag representing that we have the power do change the world. The handles of the plastic bag is shaped as hands so it is like holding the earth. The earth's land is drawn to look like it's suffocating.
 * 1. How did videos, images, online tools, movement, words, symbols, numbers, choice of language types, etc help to aid the delivery of you presentation so the class gained learned lots of new things about your issue?**

Students who participate and contribute in communties have a sense of belonging and the confidence to participate with new contexts. They understand the importance of balancing rights, roles, and responsibilities of and of contributing to the equality and sustainability of social, cultural, physical, and economic environments.
 * 6. Participating and Contributing -** This competency is about being actively involved in communities. Communities include family, whānau, and school and those based, for example, on a common interest or culture. They may be drawn together for purposes such as learning, work, celebration, or recreation. They may be local, national, or global. This competency includes a capacity to contribute appropriately as a group member, to make connections with others, and to create opportunities for others in the group.

Our group delegate roles and responsibilites by our interests and abilitiy. Josephine edited the information and did most of the presentation. Josephine found information through the internet while I(Stephanie) found information through books. I edited the wiki and answered most of the essential questions. I also helped a little with the presentation.
 * 1. How did your group delegate roles and responsibilities?**

The share of work for Josephine and me was fair because I researched for the information and reworded it to make sure we weren't copying. Then Josephine would edit it and add in some complicated words using a thesaurus. I designed the infographic for the front page. Josephine would draw it onto the A3 page and colour it.
 * 2. Was the share of work fair for everyone? If yes, explain. If no, explain.**

Now that we have learnt what is bad for the environment, we know what we should do and what we shouldn't do. We are both now more aware of this issue and we want to as much as we can to help the environment. ​
 * 3. How do you think you now contribute to a sustainable envrionment as a result of this inquiry and what have you learnt?**